BACKGROUND: Temporal trends in prostate cancer incidence and death rates have been attributed to changing patterns of screening and improved treatment (mortality only), among other factors. This study evaluated contemporary national-level trends and their relations with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing prevalence and explored trends in incidence according to disease characteristics with stage-specific, delay-adjusted rates. METHODS: Joinpoint regression was used to examine changes in delay-adjusted prostate cancer incidence rates from population-based US cancer registries from 2000 to 2014 by age categories, race, and disease characteristics, including stage, PSA, Gleason score, and clinical extension...

BACKGROUND: Endometriosis is a common gynaecological condition which affects many women of reproductive age worldwide and is a major cause of pain and infertility. The combined oral contraceptive pill (COCP) is widely used to treat pain occurring as a result of endometriosis, although the evidence for its efficacy is limited. OBJECTIVES: To determine the effectiveness, safety and cost-effectiveness of oral contraceptive preparations in the treatment of painful symptoms ascribed to the diagnosis of laparoscopically proven endometriosis...

BACKGROUND: Lipid transfer protein (LTP) is a major fruit allergen. It has, however, recently been revealed that the systemic reaction in peach-allergic patients is related not only to LTP (Pru p 3) but also to gibberellin-regulated protein (Pru p 7). We investigated recombinant Pru p 7 (rPru p 7) for its potential use in worldwide standardization for the diagnosis of peach allergy. METHODS: Natural Pru p 7 (nPru p 7) was purified from peach crude extract using a monoclonal antibody affinity column...

In this research communication we exploited the potential use of milk microRNAs (miRs) as biomarkers for bovine tuberculosis (bTB). bTB is a zoonotic disease caused by Mycobacterium bovis which affects animal health, influencing herd economic sustainability. Diagnosis is based on skin delayed-type hypersensitivity reaction and quantification of interferon gamma but both techniques are influenced by several confounding factors. Thus, new methods for early diagnosis are required. In this context, microRNAs have been used as promising biomarkers for both infectious and non-infectious diseases...

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have suggested that having a comorbid personality disorder (PD) along with major depression is associated with poorer depression outcomes relative to those without comorbid PD. However, few studies have examined the influence of specific PD cluster types. The purpose of the current study is to compare depression outcomes between cluster A, cluster B, and cluster C PD patients treated within a collaborative care management (CCM), relative to CCM patients without a PD diagnosis...

PURPOSE: Etiological diagnosis of pediatric patients with community-acquired pneumonia is difficult. For therapy, one of the major problems is the difficulty in separating bacterial pneumonia which would benefit from antibiotics from non-bacterial pneumonia. Therefore, we sought to identify potential biomarkers for distinguishing non-bacterial pneumonia from bacterial pneumonia. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Lectin microarray containing 91 lectins was used to screen serums from pediatric patients with pneumonia...

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the outcomes of video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) for mediastinal bronchogenic cyst (MBC) excision and investigate the surgical indication for MBC. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed all consecutive MBC patients who underwent surgical excision between April 2001 and June 2016. One hundred and nineteen patients were enrolled with a median age of 45.4 years and divided into two groups: anterior mediastinum group (n = 48), and middle and posterior mediastinum group (n = 71)...

BACKGROUND: Several methods exist to cost hospital contacts when estimating the cost effectiveness of a new intervention. However, the implications of choosing a particular approach remain unclear. We compare the use of the three main diagnosis-related group (DRG)-based national unit costs in England to determine whether choice of approach can impact on economic evaluation results. METHODS: A cost-utility model was developed to compare secondary fracture prevention models of care for hip fracture patients, using data from large primary and hospital care administrative datasets in England...

Life expectancy is increasing worldwide, with a resultant increase in the elderly population. Aging is characterized by the progressive loss of skeletal muscle mass and strength - a phenomenon called sarcopenia. Sarcopenia has a complex multifactorial pathogenesis, which involves not only age-related changes in neuromuscular function, muscle protein turnover, and hormone levels and sensitivity, but also a chronic pro-inflammatory state, oxidative stress, and behavioral factors - in particular, nutritional status and degree of physical activity...

: media-1vid110.1542/5754332180001PEDS-VA_2017-3872 Video Abstract OBJECTIVES: To describe the characteristics and trends of exposures to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medications among individuals 0 to 19 years old reported to US poison control centers. METHODS: National Poison Data System data from 2000 through 2014 were retrospectively analyzed to examine pediatric ADHD medication exposures. RESULTS: From 2000 through 2014, there were 156 365 exposures reported to US poison control centers related to ADHD medications...

Dermatitis herpetiformis (DH) is a cutaneous manifestation of coeliac disease. At diagnosis, the majority of patients have villous atrophy in the small bowel mucosa. The objective of this study was to investigate whether the presence or absence of villous atrophy at diagnosis affects the long-term prognosis of DH. Data were gathered from the patient records of 352 DH and 248 coeliac disease patients, and follow-up data via questionnaires from 181 DH and 128 coeliac disease patients on a gluten-free diet (GFD)...

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is widely associated with deficits in extinguishing learned fear responses, which relies on mechanisms of reinforcement learning (e.g., updating expectations based on prediction errors). However, the degree to which PTSD is associated with impairments in general reinforcement learning (i.e., outside of the context of fear stimuli) remains poorly understood. Here, we investigate brain and behavioral differences in general reinforcement learning between adult women with and without a current diagnosis of PTSD...

INTRODUCTION: Transferrin, a microheterogeneous iron-transporting N-glycoprotein, is an optimal model for the analysis of the glycosylation profile in rheumatoid arthritis. The aim of this study was to assess the transferrin isoforms profile in RA patients at the time of diagnosis and then look into the associations with disease activity. METHODS: Serum samples were collected from 48 patients with rheumatoid arthritis. The patients were males (6) and females (42) (age range: 33-85 years)...

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to compare a cohort of transferred pediatric orthopaedic patients with orthopaedic patients who primarily presented to a Level 1 pediatric emergency department to identify risk factors for transfer. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: This study was performed at a level one trauma center in New York. PATIENTS: The cohort consisted of patients under age 18 who presented to one level 1 pediatric trauma center between January 1, 2013 - December 31, 2013 with an orthopaedic fracture diagnosis code (ICD-9 805...

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: Many individuals with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) have persistent disease into adulthood. Polyarticular JIA (pJIA) is often mislabeled as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in adult rheumatology clinics, and treatment for adult pJIA patients is not well defined. We aimed to describe clinical features and medication use in the adult pJIA population in relation to an RA control cohort. METHODS: We performed a cross-sectional study of 45 adults with pJIA and 94 with RA seen from 2013 to 2017...

OBJECTIVE: In rheumatoid arthritis(RA), the autoantibodies anti-citrullinated protein antibodies(ACPA) and rheumatoid factor(RF) are commonly used to aid RA diagnosis. Although these autoantibodies are mainly found in RA, their specificity is not optimal. It is therefore difficult to identify RA patients, especially in very early disease, based on the presence of ACPA and RF alone. Also, anti-carbamylated protein(anti-CarP) antibodies have diagnostic and prognostic value as the presence of anti-CarP antibodies associates with joint damage in RA patients and with future RA development in arthralgia patients...

Autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT) is standard consolidation therapy in management of multiple myeloma (MM) patients. We reviewed records of all consecutive MM patients who underwent ASCT with high-dose melphalan at our center from year 2002 to 2016. A total of 141 ASCT were conducted (90 males and 51 females) with median age of 55 years (23-68 years). Median time from diagnosis to transplant was 7 months (3-79), with majority of patients underwent transplant in first remission, while 17 (12%) patients received transplant beyond first remission...

BACKGROUND: Ventricular tachycardia or fibrillation (VT/VF) is a major cause of sudden cardiac death after acute myocardial infarction (AMI). This study aims to investigate the clinical characteristics and outcomes of VT/VF, to identify the variables associated with VT/VF, and to construct a new scoring system. METHODS: Patients with relatively preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) (≥40%) included in the Korea Acute Myocardial Infarction Registry-National Institutes of Health registry were enrolled in this study...